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By Curtis TateMcCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS • Tuesday March 12, 2013 6:52 AM

WASHINGTON — Mass transit ridership increased nationwide last year, according to new numbers
yesterday, an indication that more people are going back to work and high gasoline prices are
changing how they get there.

However, a closer look at the American Public Transportation Association’s ridership report
reveals that, although many transit systems posted large gains, others had decline, reflecting the
unevenness of the economic recovery. And declines in the state, local and federal tax revenues that
support transit systems have forced many of them to cut back service.

“Just like everybody else that saw the impacts of the recession, we did, too,” said Lars
Erickson, a spokesman for Pierce Transit in Tacoma, Wash.

U.S. transit systems recorded 10.5 billion trips last year, the second-highest level since 1957.
The numbers would have been even higher if not for superstorm Sandy, which crippled transit systems
throughout the Northeast in late October.

About 60 percent of transit trips are to and from work, said the the public transportation
association, and volatile gasoline prices have driven many commuters to seek alternatives.

“People have found transit to be a good value,” said Michael Melaniphy, the president and chief
executive of the American Public Transportation Association.

“If they want increased service, we’re going to have to increase revenue to support that,” said
Mike Wiley, the general manager of the Sacramento Regional Transit District in California.

At the federal level, transit funding depends on gasoline-tax receipts, which have declined in
recent years. At the state and local level, funding comes from a variety of sources, including
sales and property taxes. When the economy turned sour, consumers cut back spending and home prices
plummeted, hammering two main sources of transit revenue.

With revenue down, systems had to cut service. Sacramento eliminated some bus routes and light
rail service on nights and weekends. The reduced service led to reduced ridership, compounded by
weekly furloughs of state government workers, who ride mass transit in large numbers.

Increasingly, state and local governments are asking voters to approve new transit revenue at
the ballot box. The failure of such measures last year in Atlanta and Los Angeles grabbed a lot of
attention, but voters approved 49 of the 62 transit ballot measures nationwide last year, Melaniphy
said.

“We hear no one will pay more taxes for transportation,” he said. “In the toughest economic
times in our lifetime, the voters are trusting their transit systems.”